Why Egypt and Greece really shouldn't meet
by AlphaCommand
Summary: When Carter gets his return call from Percy, months after the events on Long Island, he and his sister are transported to New York, where a certain god of the sky is about to kill Percy. Egypt and Greece collide - madness ensues.
1. Chapter One: Carter is on his way

**CARTER**

It all started when I got the message I had been dreading for so long:

_Carter._

My eyes snapped open. One of the precious few nights my_ ba_ decided to stay in my body, and he had to call now.

_He_ was Percy, the most mysterious and dangerous person I have ever met. He and I met on Long Island, almost killed each other, then fought a_ petsuchos_ (which turned out to be a baby crocodile with a necklace which turned it into an immortal son of Sobek) together. He wielded crazy water powers I couldn't quite understand, and a single slash from his creepy, glowing "celestial bronze" sword almost made me faint from the pain. [Stop laughing, Sadie.]

I'd written a single hieroglyph on his hand - the Eye of Horus - which would allow him to contact me and summon me, but it only worked once. And he'd called me. I hoped it was worth my actually restful sleep.

I shook sleep from my head. Of course it was worth it. As creepy as he was, Percy had seemed pretty smart. He was either in serious danger, or… I wasn't sure. He wouldn't just call me to him out of curiosity, and he would've been careful not to speak my name, which would trigger the hieroglyph. We'd agreed to stay separate unless absolutely necessary - some powerful force which wanted us to be enemies had brought us together using the_ petsuchos_. Now he was summoning me, which meant something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Immediately, a floating vortex of sand was floating in front of my bed. I was relatively familiar with these. They were Egyptian portals. A magician could summon one with relative ease, as long as they had the training or happened to be hosting the goddess of magic (Long story involving my sister, and an exploding Rosetta Stone.) As far as I knew, Percy couldn't do that. I wasn't sure what he was, but I knew he wasn't Egyptian. He was anything but. I just had no idea what. He'd agreed not to go into detail about each other - we just knew we each had magical powers, and that we were both near New York.

Immediately, I knew where he was. New York, the Empire State Building. I couldn't see him, or feel his condition, but I knew I needed to get there - quickly. The portal would take me there. I was ready to jump through, but I couldn't go alone. I needed to bring my sister, Sadie. [No, I would_ not_ have been lost with you, Sadie.]

I jumped out of bed and knocked on the wall of my room. Sadie's was right through the wall, and I was pretty sure she would hear me and wake up. Within a few seconds, she opened my door and walked in.

I must've looked pretty desperate, because she didn't even hesitate to follow me. "We need to go. Now."

We leaped into the portal.


	2. Chapter Two: The Kanes save a life

**PERCY**

This is how we almost brought down the Empire State Building, and the whole of New York with it.

With the last air in my lungs, I whispered, "Carter."

I had no second thoughts about it. If there was any time to summon the guy, it was now. I was dying. I had no supplies, no friends, and the only god here to help me was the one who was about to kill me. [I know you were worried, Annabeth. Don't deny it.]

I was lying on the floor in the lobby of the Empire State Building, bleeding from several places, my sword freshly tossed from my grip and one furious god staring down at me. His name was Zeus, and he was the lord of the sky, king of the Greek gods, and he was very, very angry. He was leaking golden ichor, the blood of the gods, from a few places, but nothing bad enough to make him back off - in fact, I doubted anything could stop him from killing me now.

Except maybe an Egyptian.

He and a girl fell out of the air about a meter above the ground, lightly coated in sand. His hair was messy like he'd just been pulled out of bed - not that he hadn't - and he clutched a bag in his hands. He collapsed to the floor unceremoniously, not the most heroic entrance, but it was enough to distract the bloodthirsty deity for a few moments. He loosened his grip on his weapon, the master bolt, a god-tier nuclear weapon, as he stared, bewildered, at the two teenagers who had just dropped out of the air.

The girl was the first to stand. She looked about fourteen, with caramel-colored hair and blue eyes. She looked like she'd just been dragged out of bed, too, which she of course had. She reached her hand into the air, and before I could consider what she was doing, a box appeared out of nowhere. She then reached up again and pulled out a staff, which was almost as tall as she was. She assessed the situation and pointed the staff right between the two of us.

"Tell me what in the name of Egypt is going on here," she said calmly, "or my lion will eat you both."

I wondered where her lion was, and if I had the energy I probably would've looked around the lobby for it, but as it was I wasn't even fit to speak. For the first time, I saw what a god looked like afraid. At first, Zeus was confused. As the girl pulled the box and staff out of the air, his eyes took on a light which I generally didn't associate with the god of the sky - terror. He lowered his master bolt and looked on in shock as the boy stood.

"Back!" he yelled at Zeus, reaching into the air in a similar way to the girl, and pulled out two oddly-shaped items: something that looked like a candy cane, and another shaped like an upside-down check mark with three little prongs on the short end. [Annabeth tells me it's a crook and flail. Like I care.]

Carter, the mysterious boy who could blast me several hundred meters with a single word and make forty-foot crocodile writhe in pain, stepped forward and crossed the two items. Zeus gaped and immediately began to glow with a painful light. I had no energy to speak, but apparently the two teenagers had some experience with immortals. They both looked away, and I closed my eyes tightly as Zeus took on his godly form and disappeared.

Carter lowered the crook and flail, the weapons of an Egyptian pharaoh, and ran over to me. "Percy!"

I turned my head, sending pain flaring up my body. My vision reddened. When it cleared, the girl was crouching next to Carter, studying me with a concerned expression. Carter asked, "Who was that guy? What did he do to you?"

"Dying," I gasped. "Help?"

Carter hurriedly pulled another object out of the air - I wish they'd stop doing that - and it was a flask of what he called a healing potion. I was pretty sure it was nectar, and I almost sighed with relief. He uncorked it and poured some into my mouth. Immediately, some of my wounds began to heal up, and I gasped, and my lungs filled with air. Zeus had dropped the air pressure in the room, and if he hadn't killed me immediately he could've simply waited for me to suffocate. [I know he would've killed me immediately, Annabeth. He's not exactly patient.]

The girl looked at Carter skeptically. "So," she said. "This is Percy?"

"Yeah," he said, studying me with worried eyes. "Looks like you used the hieroglyph pretty well, huh?"

As he spoke, the Eye of Horus flared on my palm and floated away, absorbed into the box he was holding. I was content to just lie here and sleep, but we couldn't stay. We needed to leave - immediately. Before Zeus destroyed the whole city. [Annabeth says even Zeus wouldn't risk destroying Olympus. She should've been there.]

"We… leave," I said weakly with my exemplary speech skills. "Gods… destroy New York."

"He's a great talker," the girl muttered.

"Hey," I managed to say.

"Oh, he can hear us?" She looked surprised.

Carter rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Sadie."

Then he looked at me intently. "My uncle… he told us New York had other problems."

Understanding passed through us. He continued, "Other gods."

All I could do was blink. I was afraid I might die of shock at that point, but immediately, thunder boomed.

"Need to leave," I said desperately. "Hurry."


	3. Chapter Three: Zeus is not amused

**CARTER**

I helped Percy up and the three of us awkwardly shuffled out of the Empire State Building. Almost immediately, lightning streaked out of the sky and a car in front of us exploded.

Percy's eyes were wide with panic. "Zeus," he said.

"W-what?" I remembered the stories about the Greek gods. Zeus was the god of the sky. There was a thunderstorm suddenly roaring above New York.

_Other problems… other gods…_

_Rival magicians and gods…_

_Unexplainable magic as close as Long Island..._

No. I refused to think about it right now. It was too dangerous. [Sadie says danger is good. I don't think those were her thoughts right then.]

We passed by the car, which had a hole cleanly punched straight through the top of it, burning it out and shattering the windows. The chassis had been pierced right through and a the road around it was cracked from the impact.

"Where are all the people?" Sadie asked. "It's only two in the morning."

"I don't know about you, but I'm usually asleep then," I said.

"She's right," Percy said. "Something… happened."

More lightning sparked around them. Then there was a thunderous noise almost as loud as Sadie's music - the sound of lightning coursing right through the Empire State Building. [Your music _is_ that loud, Sadie.]

Thousands of windows shattered. Rooms exploded. Some parts of the walls erupted. The lobby was lit by a lightning strike so powerful it had cut straight into the building's supports and into the bedrock.

Percy looked on in horror as the entire building creaked. "Oh, gods… _RUN!_"


	4. Chapter Four: Percy in the House

**SADIE**

I wasn't too worried about the Empire State Building falling apart.

Honestly. If I needed to, there were a hundred spells I could use to keep us safe. I didn't know why Percy was so scared. [Carter tells me that won't save New York. New York won't care, Carter. It's a city.]

At any rate, as Carter and Percy were moving slightly faster than snails through the streets, I was desperately trying to contact Isis. I knew it was unlikely, since the gods had withdrawn when we'd banished Apophis, but I thought it was worth a try.

Of course, I got nothing. I only had my own magic reserves. At least I had my staff, and I could write down some words of power using my stylus and papyrus if I needed to. I wasn't sure what good Percy would be in his state, and I was personally fine with leaving him, but I knew my brother wouldn't let me. [Don't look so appalled, Carter.]

I glanced back at the Empire State Building. It wasn't looking good. The winds were buffeting us, like they were trying push us back toward it. On the flipside, that meant the building was not going to fall towards us, if it were to fall. I hoped not. That would be quite a disappointment.

It took us a while, but we eventually made it to the Brooklyn Bridge. Percy's expression seemed to lessen from sheer terror to just normal terror. He said, "We should be safe from here. Hurry."

The bridge was scattered with completely abandoned cars. As lightning struck behind us, we crossed, and at one point I looked back and saw a huge wall of water rising up from below, somehow blocking off the lightning and the storm. I'm sure, between the blasts of thunder and the roar of the water, I could hear voices shouting.

"Percy…" Carter said in awe. "Are you doing that?"

He shook his head and laughed. "Not a chance. It's my father."

I raised an eyebrow. "And… your father can control water?"

He grinned. "I guess you could say that."

"Let's keep moving," Carter said. "We'll be at Brooklyn House soon."

"Can't you call Freak?" I asked. "I'm getting tired of walking."

"I don't trust this storm not to knock him out of the sky." He eyed the clouds warily.

"Freak?" Percy asked.

"My, uh…" Carter decided it was best not to explain.

Eventually we reached the end of the bridge, but I could still see the storm raging behind us and the waves blocking it.

Many more eventuallies later, they reached the base of Brooklyn House - a huge, abandoned factory.

"So… you live here?" Percy asked.

"I suppose so," I said. "Look on top of the factory."

I'd become quite adept at seeing Brooklyn House. I still saw right through it occasionally, but it was mostly visible to me. I guess Percy wasn't quite used to living in an invisible mansion on top of a factory.

"Uhhh, there's nothing there…" he said.

"Oh. Right. Look closer."

"Still nothing…"

"Here." Carter drew his stylus and painted a hieroglyph on Percy's forehead - the Eye of Horus.

"Can I summon you again with this?"

"No. It helps with sight, too."

"Hey, my sight is fine!"

"Magical sight. Look again."

"There's nothing- Oh." He now seemed to see the huge mansion sitting atop the factory. I sighed in relief. Honestly, I thought we might be here for an hour while we argued back and forth about the existence of Brooklyn House.

"Do you two have magical hieroglyphs to let you see it?" Percy asked as they scaled the factory.

"No," I replied. "We can see it most of the time since we're magicians. It used to be difficult, but-"

"Magicians?" Percy asked, as if we might be joking. Surely even he noticed I had an aura of seriousness about me. [Don't laugh, Carter. I'm a serious girl.]

Carter coughed loudly. "So this is where we live."

"Isn't it a bit extravagant for two kids?" Percy asked.

"Well… there's a few more than two. Come on, we'll go around the back way."

I raised an eyebrow, but Carter shot me a look that meant: _We don't want anyone seeing him, at least not yet._ Carter could speak with a single look what Kufu could in a single "Agh!" To tell you the truth, that's not the only similarity he has to baboons. [No, Carter, I will not edit that out.]

Anyway, we walked the perimeter of the mansion and scaled a staircase we'd erected up to Carter's room. It was useful for sneaking people in or out, like Zia for example. [No, I really am not editing it out.]

We climbed and ended up on Carter's balcony, where his scrying bowl was desperately glowing. Carter practically squealed and ran over to it. [Oh yes you did, I was there. Percy will vouch for me.]

Poor Percy almost collapsed when Carter let go of him. I quickly grabbed his arm and helped him over to the bowl.

"Carter!" It was Zia's voice. "I've been calling for hours. Where were you?"

"I was… busy," he replied. "I guess something's happened?"

"I guess you could say that," she said. I could see her face in the oil now, and she looked pretty spooked - not an expression I related to a fire elementalist who could summon the power of Ra. "A… a girl turned up here. She says her name's… Annabeth."

Percy's eyes lit up. I had to stifle a laugh at Carter's expression when Percy pushed him away from the scrying bowl. Another voice said: "Percy?"

Zia was abruptly removed from the image and another girl appeared in the oil. She had long, blonde hair, a clay bead necklace like Percy's around her neck, and the same shirt - I hadn't realized Percy had been wearing an orange T-shirt. It was difficult to figure out what it said, considering it was torn, burned and covered in mud, but I could make out "CAMP".

"Annabeth!"


	5. Chapter Five: Carter is a trampoline

**ANNABETH**

I'd love to say I trusted Percy enough that he'd be fine, and that we'd meet up again and go back to Camp Half-Blood.

I didn't.

I almost died of worry several times. I'd lost him for so many months thanks to Hera, and sometimes I still worried that one morning I'd go to breakfast and he wouldn't be at his table, or he wouldn't be at the arena, or walking by the lake. He'd been summoned to Olympus by Zeus himself, and I'd been worried sick ever since. You didn't just get an invitation to the home of the gods, especially not be proud Zeus, who would probably kill Percy if he got the chance. [Percy says he almost did. I know, Percy.]

"Where are you?" I asked him. "Are you in New York?"

"Brooklyn," he said. His face shimmered in the oil. He looked terrible. His face was scratched and cut, covered in dirt and his hair was a mess. "When I got to Olympus… I'll tell you later. Where are you?"

"I…" I wasn't quite sure what to say. I couldn't exactly tell him I was in Egypt, staring into a bowl of oil with an Arabic girl who could light things on fire next to me, could I? [I didn't know what you'd been up to, Percy. I didn't think you'd believe me.]

Fortunately, Zia looked over the bowl, too. "She's in the First Nome with me," she said with a sour face. "Who are you?"

"I'm…" Percy was abruptly cut off as another boy entered the image. He had dark skin, curly brown hair and eyes to match. He regarded me with a glance, then turned to Zia and his expression changed, but I wasn't quite sure what it was.

"This is Percy," he said. "I met him… it'd be better if we all met up. A scrying call is too limited."

Zia raised an eyebrow. "This is Egypt, Carter-" Percy gaped. "-and you're in America. Portals aren't my specialty."

"They're mine," another voice said, and a girl stepped into frame. She had long, caramel hair, blue eyes and looked a bit younger than the boy, Carter. "I think I can summon one to the First Nome - it's a powerful place, shouldn't be too difficult." She looked at Carter. "Come on, brother dear."

The image in the oil shimmered and disappeared, and I was left with one last image of Percy staring up at me, looking just as mystified as me. I sighed and looked at Zia. "Care to explain to me what that was about?"

She regarded me with dark, even fearful eyes. "We'd better get to the Hall of Ages. They'll be here soon. It's better if we just explain to both of you, so we don't have to do it twice."

"Hall of Ages?" I asked. A wave of frustration washed over me, and I stopped dead. "Zia. I want answers here. I hate being in the dark."

She turned back to me and I swear she shuddered. "Look, Annabeth, I have just as many questions about you and Percy as whatever you have to ask me, but right now-"

Whatever she was going to say was interrupted as the boy from the oil collapsed on top of her. They fell to the ground and Zia's eyes glowed scarily for a moment as she shoved him off of her. She turned and raised her hand as if to throw something until she saw who it was. "That was quick."

He pulled himself off the floor too quickly, only succeeding to collapse again. "Thanks for breaking my fall."

She reached out a hand to help him up. I realized what the connection was - they were a couple.

Suddenly Percy came tumbling out of the air, too, and landed right on top of Carter. He groaned slightly and I flinched as I saw his terrible state. His shirt was tattered, his skin cut and his face weary. It looked like he hadn't slept for a long time, even though it had hardly been a day.

I rushed forward and pulled him out of the way as the girl fell out of the air, too. She also landed on top of Carter, but by some miracle managed to stay on her feet.

"Am I a trampoline or what?" Carter groaned, standing up.

I managed to trip over something and brought Percy down with me. We rolled across the floor for a few meters, and it goes without saying that the others probably took it the wrong way.

"So," the girl said casually, "you two know each other?"

Percy laughed nervously. "Sure."

I scrambled to my feet a bit too quickly and almost tripped again. "Now I want my explanations."

Zia shifted her feet. "Follow me."


	6. Chapter Six: We unravel the universe

**PERCY**

I was probably the most confused person there.

Firstly, Zeus had summoned me to Olympus, immediately started beating me up in the lobby and no other gods appeared. Not even Ares to help Zeus kill me. Then two Egyptians dropped out of the air and freaked him out with their weird stuff. Zeus started to tear down the Empire State Building.

To be perfectly honest, I doubted Carter or Sadie knew that Olympus was stationed on top of that building, or that the dangerous swaying of it would've caused earthquakes which would cause mass chaos up there - and even worse, destroy some of Annabeth's hard work. I wasn't terrified because the foundations of my world could collapse right down in my home city, I was terrified of Annabeth's wrath if her architecture were to be damaged. [Ow! That hurts, Annabeth.]

Then they took me to their factory-top mansion, I talked to Annabeth through an oil birdbath and was thrown into a floating sand vortex, and next thing I knew I was rolling along the floor of a weird room with Annabeth. I'm not quite sure what to make of that part.

At this point I really should explain why Annabeth wasn't at Camp Half-Blood, waiting for me - she'd come with me, more or less. Argus had driven me out to New York, and Annabeth had stowed away in the van without anyone noticing. When Argus drove off, she was there, smirking at me. I almost went to get lunch with her, but I decided a god's wrath is slightly more horrible than refusing Annabeth lunch with me. [I'm not exaggerating! Seriously, Zeus' wrath was pretty bad. Oh, you mean your wrath?]

Anyway, I called on Carter and he did not disappoint. So here we are, walking through the Hall of Ages with Annabeth and Carter both nerding out over the shimmering displays on the walls. They were pretty cool, but I felt like a complete outsider - I was Greek and Roman already, and now I have to accept the fact that Egyptians have an international presence, too? Were their gods here, on Earth, too? I was afraid to think about it.

After what felt like several ages in itself, we finally reached the end of the corridor. A massive, golden throne sat atop a dais - and sitting at the step was a man. He looked about in his forties, with dark skin. He wore a red pinstriped suit, which reminded me of Zeus, and a matching hat. His round sunglasses were tinted red and he even had red gems braided in his hair. Random hieroglyphs floated away from him as he sat.

"Chief Lector," the girl, Zia, said politely.

"It's very early, children," he said in a kind tone, removing the hat from his head. "What are you…"

He caught sight of Annabeth and I. He seemed to look straight into us, pulling out our secrets and memories. It was an eerie effect, but not too unlike Chiron. I was still wary of him, as he could be an immortal in disguise. It was difficult to tell sometimes.

"Come with me," he said, standing, his face suddenly grim. "The war room will do."

For a war room, it wasn't particularly warlike.

It was a relatively spacious area off the side of the Hall of Ages. There was a table in the center of the space, and chairs placed around it, coated in a thin layer of dust, as if this room hadn't seen use in at least a few months.

We each took a seat; the Chief Lector guy at the head of the table, Carter and Zia close by, Annabeth and I opposite and Sadie sitting at the other end of the table.

The man introduced himself as Amos Kane, Carter and Sadie's uncle and the Chief Lector of the "House of Life". The whole time, he seemed jittery and kept glancing at "CAMP HALF-BLOOD" written clearly on Annabeth's shirt. Did he know something about our camp? He seemed nice enough, but you could never really tell with the Mist and magic everywhere. He seemed to have this aura of weird around him, like, occasionally a saucer would break next to him for no reason, and he looked tired all the time. He made me uneasy.

I didn't want to get into all my Greek stuff, but they seemed relatively fine with explaining Egyptian magic - it had survived for millennia after the fall of Egypt underground, etc, etc. My brain had more or less processed that before - when Carter had mentioned his uncle, the very man in front of us, who'd said there were other gods in New York City. He was definitely right.

Apparently Amos Kane had had a few skirmishes with Greece and their gods, so he was semi-familiar with what we reluctantly explained.

"So it's done," I said. "Greek demigods and Egyptian magicians - including Chief Lector and pharaoh - sitting around a table in the First Nome, eating breakfast and discussing two sets of living deities. It's ridiculous."

"But it's reality," Annabeth said. "How did we not know?"

"Percy already met Carter," Amos noted. "Sometimes we come dangerously close - but not accidentally, or very rarely at least. Most of the time it's intentional."

We stared at him.

"Is it any wonder why the pharaoh and the leader of the Greek demigods ended up meeting? Any coincidence that while we fought Apophis, the Second Titan War was raging? History repeats, children. And it loves to align major events, to keep everything in order. Keep the peace between cultures, and realities. We've… broken that peace. But on the bright side, we haven't destroyed the fabric of the universe yet."

"Yeah," I muttered, "not yet."


	7. Chapter Seven: Girls are complicated

**CARTER**

Amos insisted we return to Brooklyn House and get Percy settled in. He'd need to recuperate, but Amos said the healers at the First Nome were too busy healing other people. I think he just wanted Percy and Annabeth out of Egypt. I didn't disagree. It was too dangerous. Two Greek demigods on Egypt, the heart of another culture? That's not going to end well.

We took a portal back to Brooklyn House, leaving Zia behind to discuss this with Amos. He looked so troubled I think he began to lose his grip on Set, who I guess hadn't really left the mortal world so much - he was the god of chaos, after all.

After we landed in Brooklyn House, Percy collapsed. Literally, right there on my balcony. I told Annabeth he could have my bed and she hauled him into my room, leaving me with Sadie.

"What do you think?" I asked.

Sadie looked at the Manhattan skyline thoughtfully. "I think his gods are over there."

"What?"

She pointed over at Manhattan, where the Empire State Building was pointing at an odd angle. "You think whoever that guy was shot lightning at the Empire State Building for no reason? I think he's perched on top of it. He lost control of his magic and shot it right down the building."

"Right," I said, laughing, "I'm supposed to believe there's an all-powerful immortal on top of the Empire State Building, and he's been there all the time we've been living here?"

"Yes," Sadie said, looking at me harshly, "just like you're supposed to believe there's a complex of ancient Egyptian magic chambers where the House of Life is based under Cairo."

"Point taken," I grumbled, staring at the building. "But why couldn't I figure it out? I'm so used to magic now, I should be able to pick up an immortal of all things…"

Sadie shook her head. "This isn't an Egyptian immortal, it's a Greek one. He shoots lightning and makes storms. Any Greek gods locked up in your head that fit the description?"

"Zeus," I said. "God of the sky."

"Well, then," she said smoothly, "he's on top of the Empire State Building, and he's been there a long time."

I turned around and trudged into my room, feeling like a complete failure.

"If it makes you feel better," Sadie said from behind me, "I never sensed it either, and I've hosted the goddess of magic."

We walked back inside to see Annabeth sitting in the bed next to Percy, looking at him with her unnerving gray eyes. She faced us as we walked in, studying us in turn. I was sure her eyes shifted and moved like stormclouds.

"So," she said, "you're leading this nome?"

"That's right," Sadie said, her eyes becoming slits.

Annabeth nodded stiffly. "So, my boyfriend is dying."

Girls are one of the most dangerous things in the world, just before buzzsaw wings and golden scarabs, and I don't pretend to understand them, but it was pretty obvious these two were not going to be friends too soon.

I rolled my eyes. "You two try to not kill each other for the next few minutes, alright?" I said. "I'm going to get Jaz. Hopefully she can help."

I left the room swiftly, hoping to make them both guilty, but I wasn't too sure if I had any effect. I walked down the hall in the dark, estimating my steps until I got to what I hoped was Jaz's room. I knocked quietly, not keen to enter a girl's room in the middle of the night. Immediately, the door opened and Jaz was there, dreary-eyed, wearing casual clothes from the day before. A lamp was on in her room and a number of scrolls piled on her bed.

"What are you doing?" I blurted.

"Studying healing spells," she said. "I need to keep up to date, don't I?"

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You don't normally stay up all night to study scrolls, of all things."

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I saw the huge storm in Manhattan. What's going on? Surely you know."

I looked down. "Yeah, I do."

She began to usher him into her room, but I shook my head. "We need to go to my room. I'll explain there."

She looked disappointed but intrigued at the same time. I wasn't sure what was going on in her head, but I hoped she knew I was with Zia, and not available.

She rubbed her eyes, left her room, closing the door behind her, and followed me back down the corridor. A faint stream of light was coming out of my room, making it easy to locate as long as you knew I was awake. I entered the room, Jaz trailing behind, to find Annabeth sitting stiffly on the bed beside Percy, quite deliberately faced away from Sadie, who was on the balcony, staring at the Empire State Building in the distance.

Jaz looked around for a few moments before demanding answers.

"Look," I said, "for now, please just help Percy - the guy on the bed - he's dying. I promise I'll explain what's going on after."

She glared at me but I knew Jaz well enough to know she couldn't refuse to help someone who was injured.


End file.
